Minolta Pocket Autopak 430E (c. 1976)
The Minolta Pocket Autopak 430E is a 110 cartridge film pocket camera introduced around 1976. It came out of Minolta's push into the subminiature market, which the company had helped define decades earlier with its Minolta-16 series. The 430E was one of the more popular 110 choices of its era. It had automatic exposure and a built-in flash, both useful on a mid-1970s pocket point-and-shoot.
The name is a little messy. Sources use "430E" and "430EX" inconsistently. At least one enthusiast source (subclub.org) explicitly describes the "430-EX" as an updated version of the 430-E, and says the EX added an illuminated distance scale on top of the camera that lights up when the flash is activated. If that is correct, the EX is a later refinement and not the same camera under a different name. The record isn't clear enough to say for sure, so treat listings under either name with a little caution.
Documentation on the 430E itself is thin. No lens specifications, shutter speeds, dimensions, or weight have surfaced in any source clearly attributed to this model. What is known from surviving listings and reviews: the camera uses 110 film, has a pop-out flash, and has a three-position focus selector for portrait, group, and landscape shots. An "On/off" lens cover doubles as the power switch. The 430EX variant reportedly runs on a single AA cell and accepts ISO 100 or 400 film. Automatic exposure made it a straightforward, everyday shooter.
Austerity Photo's review of the 430EX ("One Hand in My Pocket") shows the camera with Lomography Orca 110 black-and-white film. The site calls the camera an "authentic vintage piece guaranteed to work." Retrospekt, which sells serviced vintage cameras, listed one at $79 (currently sold out). Other asking prices run from $10 on a Canadian classifieds site to about $12 at ozcamera.com in fair-to-good condition, and 3,000 rubles on a Russian auction site.
If you own a 430E or 430EX and can pin down the lens specs, production years, or the exact relationship between the two suffixes, the Archive would welcome the record.
- Type: 110 cartridge film pocket camera
- Introduced: c. 1976
- Exposure: Automatic
- Flash: Built-in pop-out
- Focus: Three-position selector (portrait / group / landscape)
- Film: 110 cartridge
- 430EX variant: illuminated distance scale with flash; single AA cell; ISO 100 or 400
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